Computer tape drives continue to be the systems of choice for backing up large amount of persistent data in enterprise data centers due to their relatively low cost compared to other mass storage systems. Examples of common tape drive systems include the IBM System Storage TS1130 Tape Drive products offered by International Business Machines corporation of Armonk, N.Y.
A tape drive system typically records data onto a magnetic tape media enclosed in a tape cartridge and later retrieves the recorded data using a magnetic sensor commonly referred to as a magnetic tape head. In its operation, a tape drive system often needs to be in a recovery mode like a mid-tape recovery or a data restoration operation.
A mid-tape recovery is the process of powering on a drive with a tape cartridge already loaded and threaded. The drive will calculate the radius of a tape spool in the cartridge and then rewind to the physical beginning of tape. The tape is then un-threaded and re-threaded as if a new tape cartridge had just been loaded into the drive.
In a data restoration operation, the tape system tries to recover a portion of the recorded data on a tape media that has somehow been damaged or corrupted, and cannot be read by the tape head. The data recovery is typically done by rebuilding the damaged data from nearby data blocks and other information specifically stored on the tape for the purpose of data restoration such as error checking and correction (ECC) codes. As part of the recovery operation, the previously recorded data on the tape media is read by a tape head, verified of its validity by the tape drive system and then rewritten back to the tape media.
A tape recovery operation may last as long as thirty minutes in some tape drive systems during which an operator does not know when the operation will be completed. As a result, it often becomes an inconvenience because the operator may need to stay near a tape system and wait for the recovery operation to complete in order to remove the tape cartridge from the system.
There is therefore still a need in the art to provide a progress status indicator for a mid-tape or data recovery operation in a tape drive to inform the operator of the progress of the recovery operation.